


The Alpha and The King

by ThatOneScaredyBat



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: M/M, My own version of Zer0 incoming, Other, Pet Names, Power Play, There's no way my Zer0 is canon so please don't take it the wrong way, experiment au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-28 23:50:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16252322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneScaredyBat/pseuds/ThatOneScaredyBat
Summary: Handsome Jack wished there were less boring work and more exciting days. Hating hanging around his office 24/7 but loving to see action and blood, he gets a message about an incident at the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. What he expected was an escaped Badass Skag to keep as a pet (or guard skag) for Angel. What he finds is something what he thinks is better, and more valuable. This is the story of how Handsome Jack made an ally strong enough to hunt down his enemies without much of a complaint, and his name is... unknown.But the scientists call him 'Zer0.'





	The Alpha and The King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Handsome Jack had been called in because of an apparent emergency. What he expected was a few loose skags or Stalkers. What he didn't expect was something to actually make him fear for his life.

"For the love of God, I just had the carpet cleaned! I told you to  _not_ kill him  _over_ the  _carpet_!!"

 

A hand went over Handsome Jack's face, pinching the bridge of his nose with a scowl on his lips. "I swear, you Loaders have no brains. Why do I even bother sometimes?" Lowering his hand, a sharp glare shot towards the freshly killed body before he heaved out an annoyed sigh. "Just get the body out of here. Fucking Christ," he watched with a deep frown while two Loaders picked the raider up by the arms and started dragging. "Don't  _drag it across the floor_ , you idiots!" The two machines lifted the body higher until it wasn't dragging blood along the tile floor, all the way outside of Jack's office. With an eye roll, he stalked over to his chair and flopped right into it, the chair spinning in the slightest while he sat at his desk. Another annoyed sigh and a face rub while he thought aloud, "Why is today full of retards and dumbasses? Can't I just get  _one_ good day around here without some jerkwad screwing it over? Is that too much to ask?"

 

There's a beep from the Echo machine on his desk. Mismatched eyes peeked through his fingers, and he glared at the glowing blue button by the Echo display. He  _really_ didn't want to answer it. So he didn't. He hung up on it and called in the janitor instead, "Get your ass over here and clean up the rug again. Got blood all over it because of the stupid Loaders. And don't you dare complain otherwise I'll hire somebody else to clean up  _your_ blood off of it." With that, he hung up and leaned back in his chair, staring at the door as if expecting the janitor to just magically appear. Another beep from the Echo device, and he only glanced at it this time. With a scoff, he pushed the button to hang up on the call again. Nobody calls Jack, Jack calls  _them_. Whoever decided they were dumb enough to call Jack and give him bad news or good news that he didn't care about, well, they wouldn't be alive long enough to hang up most of the time.

 

The doors slide open and Jack throws his hands up, "Finally! Took you long enough. Now clean this shit up, it's already starting to smell like Pandora in here." With his eyes closed shut and a scowl, he waved his hand towards the door, only to hear a voice different than the janitor's.

 

"Sir, I have some news..."

 

He opened an eye to see his secretary standing there, dressed in her knee-high skirt and black dress shirt to match, and a Hyperion yellow undershirt. Of course. With a groan, he motioned her inside, and she walked towards his desk with the doors closing behind her. Jack crossed his arms over his chest and sat back, putting his shoes up on his desk. "Listen, Ash. I don't need any news unless it involves 3 things," he lifted a hand and counted the three reasons on his fingers. "Money, Vault Hunters, and Vaults. If it doesn't involve any of those things, then don't bother telling me." He tried waving her off, but she pouted her cute lips and responded.

 

"Actually, sir, this doesn't involve any of those  _but_ it still requires your attention. It's regarding the--" The Echo beeped again, a soft blue hue glowing from the button. Jack groaned in annoyance and sat up, slamming the hang up button again.

 

"Do I have a stalker or something? What the fuck?" It rang again, and his secretary could see that he was starting to get red in the mask.

 

"It's about that Echo call."

 

"What about it, other than it being annoying as fuck?" He asked with a frown, hanging up on it again. "Fucking persistent..."

 

"It's from the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve."

 

There was a pause. The Echo beeped again, and this time an unamused look was drawn on Jack's face. There was a moment of silence before the man gave in, answering it. "What do you want?" He stared at the Echo, seeing that the hologram wasn't working, so he decided to just look to the girl with an expectant look. He could hear crackling through the Echo, and he could hear distant and fuzzy voices. Muffled shouts could be heard in the distance before somebody finally answered to Jack's voice.

 

"Handsome Jack, sir! Thank god you answered, we've been trying to reach you--"

 

"Yeah, yeah, I know you have. You little shits have been crawling up my ass, what do you want that's so important that you had to call me? You better hope you'll live long enough to say goodbye to your family before I kill them, then you." Handsome Jack frowned, eyebrows furrowing. His assistant crossed her arms over her chest to hug the file, pursing her lips when the man on the other end responded.

 

"One of the experiments escaped, sir! He's-- He destroyed the Loaders you sent us, he murdered the badass handlers! He killed half of our research and experimentation team. He killed the Stalker Queen for God's sake!" The more Jack listened, the more evident the panicked sounds and cries in the background were. His eyebrow raised when he heard a loud thump and panicked screams. Even his assistant seemed intrigued, but concerned while Jack was amused. It probably wasn't something he should be amused about.

 

"So you're telling me you can't handle the 'big and bad experiment' yourself? Come  _on_ , you guys have a whole army of Loaders! If all else fails, let out all the pets and let them have at it." He scoffed, now drumming his fingers on the desk with a half smirk.

 

"They're all  _dead_! Including the fire skag, the corrosive skag, the slagged stalker, and more!"

 

That made Jack's smile fade, and he stared at the Echo for a long while. "Are you shitting me? They cost me a fortune just catching the damn things, and providing slag?" He groaned and leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. No wonder why he had greys. "Fine, fine. I'll send back up. And I'm coming just in case I need to kill you all for bringing me down there for a damn runt running around!" Slamming his hand on the button, he hung up and stood abruptly. The young woman immediately stood upright, stiff while she watched him snag his mobile Echo, starting his walk towards the door. "You," he pointed to her as he walked by. "You're coming with me." He didn't even get her a chance to respond, hearing her heels click quickly on the tile while they approached the door. On the way out, he saw the janitor down the hall and narrowed his eyes. "And you! Clean that blood up. My office better be  _spotless_ before I get back." The old man panicked and hurried past them and into the office, the duo heading the other direction.

 

"Call in my Vulture, bring a few guards too. Two Badass Loaders, the others are too dumb to even obey orders correctly. I want my Eridium collar, and I need my shield. I don't need to get attacked, I'm not expendable." Jack listed orders for his little assistant to do, and she was doing the best that she could while speedwalking after him. "And get me a bag of pretzels too.  _Fresh_ ones, not the stale ones." He waved her off and walked ahead, leaving the quiet secretary to do as she was told, walking right into the hangar. Luckily she'd told everybody to prepare Jack's Vulture first. As he strode in, red alarm lights started shining, and people ran from the center of the hangar while the giant circled Hyperion symbol opened up, smoke flowing free. Jack stood tall while the floor opened up, revealing his own private vehicle. It resembled a Pandoran Buzzard, however, it was much larger, like a military version. It would be able to hold the Badass Loaders he'd ordered and up to 10 people with enough room for important cargo below deck. The platform it was on slowly turned, while the back door opened to reveal the cargo bay. To the side were two groups of 4 men pulling two inactive Badass Loaders, perfect. Hearing heels click over to him in a hurry, he held his hand to the side and was pleased to feel a small bag of pretzels in the palm of his hand. Without hesitation, he opened up the bag and started munching on one, walking forward. "So, I hope you have a shield of your own." He teased, though it wasn't sincere. His assistant narrowed her eyes at him just slightly, following him to the Vulture with the groups of men hauling the heavy bots onto the ship. She never really earned enough for a strong shield, so she decided not to mention a raise.

 

"No, sir, but I brought yours, as well as the Eridium collar." She offered the shield to the man, and he took it swiftly to put it on. Jack seemed pleased with the fact that she found his shield so fast, feeling the static raise the hairs on his arms while it was activated.

 

"Good. I hope you packed your safari hat, kiddo, it's time to fly." He gave her a cheeky grin while he hopped up onto the Vulture, and she reluctantly followed. Carrying the sleek black case with the collar inside, she followed Jack into the Vulture while the large cargo door slowly closed up once everybody was inside. She saw the guards getting into their seats and clicking their seatbelts on, and Jack led her over to his own special seat away from the others. He sat and clicked his safety belt on, and she did the same quickly once she felt the Vulture starting to bob and sway, a sign that it was lifting. If that wasn't enough evidence that they were starting to fly, sirens were heard outside once the hangar doors started to open up, and the Vulture's engines were getting louder.

 

"Heading to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve now, sir." The pilot alerted their boss, and Jack grunted softly in response, not feeling like he needed to answer. He crossed his arms and nibbled on his pretzels while they waited. Luckily, nobody was very talkative in the Vulture, so Jack found his mind at peace for once. Now all he had to do was wait.

 

* * *

 

"Sir, we've reached the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve."

 

Jack's thoughts were interrupted when he'd heard the pilot speak over the intercom, and he looked to the side to the window to see the site. The preserve was one of his most proud establishments. It was always busy, always working, always  _new_. But it wasn't the usual busy and crowded when he looked closer while they glided over the hill and habitats for the Stalkers. He saw the Stalkers, and he saw that most of them were green and red with blood, scattered around with limbs in odd places. He narrowed his eyes while they glided past the habitat, and towards the official preserve. There, he saw the corpses of his own men and the broken down bodies of Loaders. Different Loaders, in fact. Exploaders, gun Loaders, RPG, bulloaders, you name it. All in pieces. "What in the Hell happened here?" He asked aloud, though nobody knew the answer. He'd have to wait until they got to the facility. "Look for any signs of human life and bring us there, will ya?" The pilot acknowledges him with a faint 'Yes sir,' and they continue gliding over the site. The more they flew, the more bloodshed they saw. Even the secretary was looking out the window with a look of shock and concern. Skags, Stalkers, humans, and Loaders were all destroyed by  _something_. Jack had no idea what to think of it. For once, he was actually pretty speechless.

 

"S.O.S. signal spotted, I see no hostiles so I'll drop you all off there." The engines of the Vulture softened while it prepared to slow down and lower, reaching one of the large research facilities that Jack had installed. The group all undo their safety belts and the guards hurried to the Badass Loaders to wheel them off the ship. Jack remained seated while waiting for the Vulture to touch base and land, which it did after a moment. The man stood with his assistant, walking to the opening cargo door, immediately hit with the smell of blood. Gross.

 

"Alright princess, did they happen to say if this 'experiment' was still on the loose or what?" He asked, adjusting his jacket and collar of his shirt. His assistant looked at her holopad and shook her head.

 

"No, sir. Judging by the fear in the scientist's voice, I don't think the experiment left the facility."

 

"Oh, great. Of fucking course." Jack sighed heavily while the two stepped off of the Vulture, feeling the hot Pandoran sun on their skin. He narrowed his eyes at the laboratory, starting his walk forward with her hesitantly following. Behind them, the group of guards unlatched the two Loaders until the two machines started activating, whirring to life with guns ready to blast. Jack walked right up to the busted door, seeing sparks fly everytime it tries to close. With a hum, the curious man dipped his head to step past the door, looking to the side and seeing a giant gaping hole in the wall several feet from the door. His eyebrows raised for a moment with surprise, hearing his secretary follow him inside.

 

"Sir, are you sure you should head in without the guards? You could get hurt." She warned him, stepping over a large chunk of debris carefully with her skirt and heels. She  _almost_ tripped, but after working with Jack for so long, she learned to walk heels almost all day.

 

"Ash, come on."

 

"It's  _Ashley_ , sir..."

 

"Eh, same thing. Listen, do you hear anything that could hurt me?" He turned around to face her, and the two stopped to listen. Ashley held her breath to listen better, thinking maybe he heard something she didn't. But then she realized something, the preserve was absolutely silent, even with the door trying to close on itself. There was nothing alive here, at least not in the area. She slowly shook her head and Jack's face remained neutral, but he gave her a subtle nod. "Come on then. Let's try and find these asshats. Hiding from absolutely nothing." He scoffed, turning to start walking. The thumps and crumbling from behind them told that the guards and Loaders were following them, so Ashley walked too.

 

"Where do you think they're hiding?" Ashley asked in a soft voice, following Jack closely now. She looked around slowly, now wishing she bought a cheap shield from someplace instead of trying to save up for one. She felt unsafe, even with the Badass Loaders there to guard Jack. Because they were there to only protect Jack, weren't they? The man frowned and spotted a room full of bodies, scattered around with blood on the walls and floors, even the ceiling. He narrowed his eyes and stepped into the room, though Ashley hesitated. She followed anyway, hand over her mouth. The stench of blood was too strong, too concentrated. Jack found the body of a scientist on his front and used the toe of his shoe to kick him over onto his back, eyeing him. A look of terror was stuck on his face. But he wasn't important, so Jack decided to move on and step over the body to search for  _somebody_ alive.

 

"Where the Hell is everybody?" One of the guards asked quietly, using his gun to nudge the corpse of a woman to confirm that she was dead. Ashley made sure to avoid stepping in any blood or on any body parts, now she felt like taking the heels off so she wouldn't be so noisy. But for now, she took slow and careful steps in case something was still lurking. She eyed the large metal doors lined up, they looked like asylum cells from a distance. She turned to look at a large splash of blood on the wall and nearly screamed when a loud thump was heard against the door beside her. The guards turned their weapons towards the door, and Jack looked towards it. A greying man's face was there, and there were other people with him, all shouting and knocking on the door to get out. Jack frowned and walked right up to the door, stepping over the bodies carelessly.

 

"Did you dumbasses  _seriously_ lock yourselves in a cell? Holy fuck... I should just leave you guys in here for this! You brought me out here to save your sorry asses. I swear to God..." He pinched the bridge of his nose with aggravation and looked to the guards. "Find the damn keycard to unlock these idiots! Shoot them once you open the door." With a scowl, Jack moved from the door to look around for anything valuable, anything he'd need to worry about that was damaged. The guards started searching corpses for keycards, and Ashley felt odd. The secretary looked to one of the hallways, seeing that the lights in it were out, but the emergency lights shined a dull red along the floor. Frowning, she hesitantly separated from the group to investigate, the door was ajar just enough to interest her.

 

Heels quietly clicked on the tile while she approached the door, slowly opening it and peeking in. Down the hallway was what she figured was a specific habitat, much like the broken ones they'd glanced at before. She wandered down the hall carefully, checking over her shoulder constantly until she made it into the room. She realized that it was indeed a habitat, but for what species she did not know. The sound of crickets and birds gave her the impression of a jungle habitat, and it surely seemed that way with the hanging vines and large plants. The large trees were damp from an artificial mist, and the mist was seeping out of the glass window where a crack was. It looked small at first, but she started to follow it to the right, passing by different desks with different buttons and panels, all broken and sparking. She narrowed her eyes and looked back to the glass, following the crack until she saw more popping up. With a frown, she followed the glass and saw a large hole, more mist flowing through. Something must have broken in, then, to kill whatever it was inside. Her walk slowed, and she almost scared herself when she stepped on a glass shard, hearing it break under her weight. She looked down and lifted her foot slightly, putting it back on the tile before looking back to the hole. Her thought process stopped for a moment, and she looked to the floor. There were glass shards littering the floor, and she stepped back from the mess when her heart started to race. Nothing broke in,  _it_ broke  _out_. With her breath quickening, she turned to run back down the hall, her eyes wide.

 

"J-Jack! Handsome Jack, sir--!" Ashley called, hurrying back into the room and almost tripping over a body while hurrying to him. He lifted his gaze from a photo on a desk, shattered and covered in blood, and looked to her with an arched brow. She looked frightened to say the least. "S-Sir, we need to leave. I found the habitat that.. whatever this experiment is, broke out of. I don't think we should be here..." She worried aloud, looking around with fear in her eyes.

 

Jack shrugged his shoulders slightly and set the picture frame back down. "We have everything we need, nothing can get me. We're fine." He waved her off with a hand gesture, and he started to walk towards another desk to investigate it. Ashley nearly whined while following him, but she stopped upon seeing movement, witnessing one of the guards searching outside. One of the Loader bots started stomping towards a window to survey the area, make sure it was secure. She watched it intently while it walked towards the broken glass, red eye flickering.

 

"I found it, sir." The guard outside called, lifting up the keycard for the door. Jack gave him a nod towards the door, where the scientists were starting to panic and scream. Ashley looked towards the door, and saw the panic in their eyes. They were pointing at something, banging on the door. She paused and looked towards the direction they were pointing, seeing that it was the window where she saw the guard in some tall grass. He started stepping over the waist high grass when Ashley realized something was wrong. She opened her mouth to call out, realizing what was wrong, reaching for the window. Then there was a shout, and the sound of grass moving.

 

The guard was yanked and dragged down into the grass, screaming as he was dragged away, deeper into the tall grass. Jack stood upright in time to see the Loader react, charging up a few rockets and shooting them into the grassy area without any worry for the guard. Ashley covered her mouth with wide eyes while she watched, dirt flying as well as burnt grass. The screaming had stopped after the explosives hit the ground, and the Loader started walking towards the hole in the wall to find the enemy. It scanned the area before its eye lit up. " **Hostile detected.** " It charged up another few rockets and started firing at the grass when something pulled it deeper in with insane strength. The Loader spun quickly while trying to frantically tear the creature off, earning nothing but torn limbs and guns from its own body. It screamed while the second Loader walked forward, the remaining guards quickly following. " **Preparing rockets.** " The damaged Loader warned, gun lighting up when something blocked the canon. With the canon blocked, it blew up from the inside and in turn damaged the Loader severely with a scream. The Loader stumbled without its guns, falling back with large sparks flying. The second Loader shot at the ground, the creature dodging by moving left and making it kill its own companion. With the first Loader exploding, the second was damaged by the blast and spun out of control, rockets hurting itself without being able to even leave the canon. The guards shouted and dodged the debris from the Loaders, ducking into cover. Jack also ducked, pulling Ashley down with him.

 

"Where the fuck is it!?"

 

"It's in the grass!" The guards shouted together while trying to spot the thing that the Loaders had seen. They couldn't see it. One of the men saw moving grass, and started shooting there with a shout. It quickly leapt towards him, and brought him down and under the grass with horrifying screams. 6 guards to go. "Everybody, out of the grass! It's taking us out, get back into the building!!" One guard shouted, retreating back into the lab with his gun drawn, the other five following him, all alert. "Where is the little son of a bitch?" He asked, looking down his sights at the opening towards the grass, not seeing anything move. Jack peeked over the desk he and Ashley were hiding behind, looking around with an alert expression. His arm was slung over her shoulders to keep her down while he looked. He heard the soft crack of glass from by the broken wall, and so did the others. They all pointed their weapons to the broken glass, seeing nothing on the floor. There was silence, waiting and listening. Then Jack noticed something, red was starting to form on one of the glass shards. He was hit with a sudden realization. It was  _invisible_. "Open fire!" The captain shouted, the six guards firing at the collection of glass shards. Drops of blood moved from the shards, to the wall, then to a desk with papers flying everywhere. They tried their best to hit their invisible target, but the beast lunged forward and tackled one man to the ground, he started to scream for dear life while what seemed like claws started to tear into him. Two guards continued firing while the other two were hesitant, not wanting to hurt the companion. "Jefferson!" The captain shouted, opening fire above the wounded guard to harm the beast. There's a bit of a scuffle, and the invisible creature suddenly goes from the wounded guard to the next. She was shoved against the wall with a loud cry, her blood splattering on the wall from a wound on her neck. She couldn't scream, only gurgling while she started choking on blood. The captain ran over and smacked the enemy with his weapon, actually hitting  _something_ and sending it flying back. The thing hit the desk where Jack and Ashley were hiding, making the secretary whimper and hide her face, and Jack duck. There was a thump in front of them, and then silence.

 

Jack's heart was racing while he stared forward, staring at a few mysterious drops of blood on the white tile in front of them, appearing out of nowhere. He grew tense as soon as he saw a smudge in the dust on the floor, signalling movement. It was slow and careful, and suddenly he didn't know where it was. It crept out of the dusty area, where was it. He kept his head still, but his gaze scanned the room carefully. It was when he held in his breath that he knew where the creature was; right in front of him.

 

Jack stared forward while he felt the thing breathe across his mask. He kept holding his breath, knowing full well it was watching him and investigating him. Everything was too quiet now. Jack couldn't even hear the heavy breathing from the captain. Ashley kept her face covered, she was trembling against Jack. The man wondered why it wasn't attacking her, or better yet,  _him_. Here he was, sitting defenselessly with an animal of some kind staring him down, invisible and right in front of him. But it wasn't even trying to kill him.

 

Slowly, Jack started to see more... color. The first thing he saw was eyes; golden ones with thin slits. They seemed to glow, the more they appeared. Next was light blue markings glowing against tan skin. Then blond hair, messy from a tussle. What shocked Jack was the fact that this wasn't an animal; it looked like it was just a  _kid_. The so-called beast slowly came into view, shirtless with white pants on. Thin arms had Jack pinned, hands above his shoulders on the desk to prevent him from moving. He had a few gashes and wounds along his body, though some were old and the others were fresh. Burns and bullet wounds from Jack's men and Loaders. The kid's mouth looked odd; It looked like any other human being's mouth, but at the corners of his lips were long lines. His jaw seemed a bit odd towards his pointed ears, but the mouth interested him more. They almost looked like cuts or slits, but he couldn't tell, and he sure as hell didn't want to find out. But it seemed like he would. The kid's golden eyes stared Jack down without any fear, and his lips started to part, revealing rather sharp teeth. Jack's eyes started to widen and he tried to lean back while the kid began to bare his teeth at him. Then there's a soft sound and a small gasp from Ashley. The kid paused, mouth slowly closing until it was only parted slightly, and he looked down to his hip. In it was a syringe, and a fluid was slowly depositing into his body. His grip on the desk slowly loosened, and his golden eyes appeared heavy and tired. The creature started to sway just slightly until he collapsed onto his side, breathing shallow and slow and eyes falling shut. Ashley was shaking from just putting that thing to sleep, almost getting killed.

 

Jack finally breathed in and looked at the unconscious kid on the floor, his mouth feeling rather dry.

 

So that's why they came here.

 

Huh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy, I kind of wrote a lot for a first chapter.  
> So this is my second take on Handsome Jack x Zer0. I'll try and keep it a slow build and such. Jack had no idea that this would happen when experimenting, but at the same time, what was he supposed to expect?  
> This is my take on Zer0 the Assassin, and is in no way canon or meant to be called 'canon.'


End file.
